VA Pension — “What if the veteran never applied and was healthy (and then died) – can his widow now apply?”
We have widows that may be 85 years old and their husband died when he was 40 and they’ve never remarried. He was in great health. It was a tragic accident or whatever it may be.
A lot of people think, “My husband did not apply before he died. I cannot apply for VA Pension benefits.”
That’s not true. A surviving spouse can apply whether or not their veteran spouse ever applied or ever received benefits.
When we’re looking at a surviving spouse, go back to those three requirements.
For the military requirement, we always look at the veteran. We don’t look at the spouse; we look at the veteran.
But then for a surviving spouse, we look at her health situation. Does she need help, aid and attendance in these activities of daily living?
Then we look at the surviving spouse’s financial situation. What is her income? What assets does she have?
It’s the same three requirements but the first requirement when we’re looking at a surviving spouse is we look at the veteran’s military. Then we look at, for the widow, her health and her financial situation.